JAV in Review: 2023 so far

At the end of every year I have been doing a news report of JAV as a whole. Chiming in on the biggest headlines while remarking on trends and smaller stories we have seen throughout the year. For 2023 I’ll be doing it a bit earlier. Here is the first part of my JAV in Review: 2023 edition.  Check out Trapstar’s regular news posts for more JAV news throughout the year.

When will the AV Drought end?

The start of the year was littered with messages like this from fans all over; “Is (blank) retired? She hasn’t released any videos in a couple of months”. The new AV laws took into effect slowing down production of videos with many stopping production. What resulted in was a long layoff for many actresses and studios. The hundreds and hundreds of titles we would get month to month trickling back. This would be most evident in exclusive actresses who work month to month. The drought hit the end of last year to the beginning of this year the most. It wouldn’t last long and now normal production as resumed. JAV makers and studios are still dealing with the new laws but have gotten a handle on operating within it’s limits.

STARS 804 Superb Lingerie & Oily Intertwined With Instinct 4 Fucks Rei Kamiki

Let your regularly scheduled JAV resume

Business is Bad for many

While the industry has adapted it has hurt the rank and file. The laws did little to do what they intended and more to harm to the living of many within the industry. We see in their public facing workers in actresses. A few have spoken about it publicly. How the work has dried up and how it’s effected them financially. Some have retired and cited the new laws specifically. We are also seeing more actresses “graduate” (get cut) from studios. Quite a few have gone MIA from JAV too. And it's not just the onscreen talent but the behind the scenes workers who have been hurt. With this and R18 going belly up, things are not looking too bright for the JAV industry.

Beauty Venus comes back!

IPZZ 034 Beauty Venus 8

It wasn’t all bad news for JAV fans in 2023. We’ve had bright spots like Beauty Venus coming back. The fan favorite series that sees the biggest and brightest stars from the top tier studios coming together. After a long hiatus we got not one but two BV style titles. The proper BV8 starring kawaii’s Mayuki Ito, Idea Pocket’s Momo Sakura, and Premium/Oppai’s Karen Yuzuriha. And another BV spinoff starring Arina Arata, Minami Aizawa, and in a big surprise Yua Mikami.

Rena Miyashita v Nanami Ogura Twitter Drama

Now for some smaller but juicier news with good old fashioned Twitter Drama. You almost never see drama between JAV actresses. Partly due to managers handling social media or their polite and non-confrontational nature. Whatever it is you rarely see it. Not in the case of Rena Miyashita versus Nanami Ogura. Rena is an upcoming star for Moodyz while Nanami is a now retired actress. What started out about Nanami lamenting her money troubles with a side tweet from Rena talking about not taking advantage of fans. Turned into a Twitter spat between the two with a whole lot of @ messages. Lots of deleted tweets now and blocked users. You rarely see this side of actresses online. The drama addict in me is all for it.

Rena meanwhile seems to have come out of this more than unscathed. She’s one of Moodyz’s hottest new stars. Partly thanks to her candor and ease on social media which has gained her a nice following. With how social media is growing within the industry and as more actresses are given the keys to their social media we may see more of these. Social media accounts where the actress actually uses the account is a lot more fun than some salaryman posting the daily required photo. Plus you see these abominations like Rena putting mayo on her instant noodles.

MDVR 248 [VR] First VR! ! I want you to love Rena Miyashita who is full of naturalness! Icharabu 8K SPECIAL! !

Winner by TKO: Rena Miyashita

Ai Mukai has it bad for Yuu Shinoda

https://twitter.com/ai_mukaiav/status/1673844254358257666

Speaking of actresses having fun online. Yuu Shinoda’s started hostessing for the Red Dragon, a well-known club that features AV talent as the hostesses. A bit of news that did not escape Ai Mukai’s eye. What started out as a bit of teasing about wanting to see her. A woman of her word Ai then went down to the bar to enjoy out Yuu’s company. Going beyond fangirling she would later share some videos of Yuu’s she was checking out. Going from a pretty cute crush to damn Ai Mukai has it bad for Yuu Shinoda. And I don’t blame her.

Who cares about censorship on Only Fans?

You can call it capitalism but I call it sticking to the Man. Some adult actresses, in and outside of mainstream JAV, have taken to posting uncensored porn on Only Fans. Some JAV actresses like Sumire Mizukawa and Ayaka Uzume are posting the full picture on their Only Fans while some amateurs are following suit too. This is a pretty grey area with little oversight. Japanese censorship laws and authorities are likely too slow and unaware to react to this small trend. So let’s not blow up these ladies’ game too much and just enjoy the small trickle of uncensored porn coming out.

https://twitter.com/mizukawasumire/status/1670846789254266880

Who cares about censorship? The Police

Sadly not everyone is getting away with it. Showing they had nothing better to do than arrest and charge one AV performer for the serious charge of selling uncensored videos. Parading her through press conferences to show how serious they are.

Anna Kami’s Final Dance

Actresses have lives and hobbies outside of their main job of having sex on camera. For Anna Kami it is dancing, burlesque dancing to be exact. The best side gig to have Anna performed in her final burlesque show. A showy eye popping affair. It’s a shame it will be her last time. For now enjoy some lovely pictures from the farewell show.

Rise of Asian Porn Outside JAV

JAV is the biggest porn maker in Asia but not the only one. Recently we’ve had underground South Korean makers like MIB. They’ve even had promo events featuring some big JAV stars to promote them. How gutsy it is for an underground business is to promote themselves like this. Some AV actresses, actors, and producers even took to South Koreans talk shows to discuss their profession as I covered here. But the real player might be in TAV (Taiwanese Adult Video). Specifically Model Media Asia. Checking out some of their stuff and the quality is much improved with the added benefit of being uncensored. Moving up from basic hotel sex with real sets and premises. The TAV video below is one of the higher quality videos I’ve seen by them.

https://www.pornhub.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ph63bcd5ed92646

They aren’t limited to just making porn at home but abroad too. Under their umbrella is Delphine Films a newer studio in the west that has won some awards. They’ve been working with some big names in the west and some of their stuff is top quality. However talent wise it is day and night compared to JAV. The girls in their domestic films are just not on the level of JAV actresses; not in looks, body, or performing. It’s taken JAV decades to develop and bring in good talent which TAV does not yet have. They are still a long ways from match JAV at that but they are progressing along quickly. And I will say some of their male talent is much nicer to look at then some in JAV. With JAV’s troubles TAV could be a contender in the future. I for one welcome the competition between them all. Maybe this will give JAV the jolt it needs to wake up and be better.

Japan/America Cross Cultural Exchange

We are in a global age and JAV can’t stop it. 2023 saw a cross cultural exchange between Japan and America. First with the return of Melody Marks this time with June Lovejoy as her guide. Melody may go down as the most prolific western Pornstar to do JAV. Hopefully these trips become a regular thing for her. Not only that we saw a collaboration between two legendary busts; Angela White and Hitomi. Australia’s boobs meets the chest of Japan in some videos for Angela’s Only Fans. A team up we would’ve never seen when Hitomi was active. It’s not half bad in my opinion. As a cherry on top of things even Johnny Sins took a trip to Japan this year.

https://twitter.com/JohnnySins/status/1666632927235674113

Vixen in Japan

Continuing the exchange is Vixen Media. The premier maker of high quality smut in the west arrived in Japan to unveil their newest Vixen Angel contract star. Some thought it was Marica Hase, Rae Lil Black, or even Sumire Mizukawa. It turned out to be Violet Myers. The anime weebo chose Tokyo as the place to be announced as their newest star. For now I will dream of the day Vixen and JAV combine together.

https://twitter.com/VIXEN/status/1674177106568257538

Sumire in America

Sumire Mizukawa meanwhile went on a global tour that took her all over Asia, Europe, America. All while shooting porn in their respective scenes. With odd studios like Parasite and bigger ones like Reality Kings and Brazzers. She's even gotten some scenes with Vixen in a special series. JAV really is too small for her. She needs the whole world.

Little drama at SOD Land

The big JAV maker Soft on Demand was in the headlines this year for the arrests of some of their executives. The case revolved around SOD Land their AV themed mini-theme park slash bar. A case that boiled down to them now having the right licenses to operate. Much a do about nothing and far less scandalous as some headlines made it out to be. Still it made the page of some national media and rightly so. It should be eye catching attention when some of the heads of a large porn maker is arrested.

Can you un-debut as a MILF?

JUL 803 Cute, Beautiful, Sexy. Married Woman With Various Faces Yukari Shizuki 29 Years Old AV DEBUT

I can’t believe porn lied to me

Ages in porn are a fickle thing. It’s not unusual to for actresses to be listed as younger or older than they really are. In the case of Yukari Shizuki she is ready to come out as Not a Milf. A 2021 debut who started out with the mature maker Madonna she is changing her age from 30 to 23.

Black Diamond fails to shine

K-pop is the dominating the globe today, something that a few in JAV have tried to penetrate. Yua Mikami tried it with Honey Popcorn and now we have Black Diamond too. Featuring a pretty great list of JAV names from Anri Okita, Ai Sayama, Alice Otsu, Mary Tachibana, and Miiro Momosaki. But whose popular and good in JAV doesn’t mean instant success in music. Black Diamond’s much hyped up release came to a plodding thud. Their debut music video has not even cracked past 200k at the time of writing. I’m not a music reviewer but they do not sound good. I enjoyed Ebisu Muscats and their campiness more. This diamond is just not shining.

Milky Pop Generation quietly sings

Milky Pop Generation is a music production featuring JAV stars singing. They recently restarted musical performances after a hiatus and have been posting them on their channel on YouTube. A much quieter affair than Black Diamond or Ebisu, it has them covering all sorts of songs in all sorts of genres. Many favoring slower ballads and songs. Some are good and some are not. It feels like a proving ground of sorts. A way for actresses to show off their singing skills and see if they have what it takes. And some do others not so much. The ones who impressed me include Saika Kawakita, Hikaru Aozora, Makoto Toda, and Fumika Nakayama. The one who blew me away though was Suzu Honjo. Catchy cute songs to powerful ballads she had quite the range. Who knew the prettiest woman in JAV could also sing? It’s a nice little channel with JAV stars showing some of their singing abilities and a nice change of pace from all the idol singing we usually see.

That is all from me so far. Look out near the end of the year for the next part of my Year in Review. For more follow me on Twitter @Fried_Chikan